Fall is a beautiful time of year. The leaves change colors and fall. The apples are ripe for the picking. The air becomes crisp. It is the start of the new school year and other new beginnings. Ducky and the gang love fall. They enjoy playing in the leaves, apple picking, and most of all Halloween. Every year, they go to a local pumpkin patch and pick the perfect pumpkin for carving. Unfortunately, in Israel we don’t know where a pumpkin patch is, and the local stores do not have traditional American style pumpkins. Then today at the grocery stores, we saw the cutest little acorn squash! They are perfect for DtPb, and helped get them get into the holiday spirit! Plus later tonight the humans are making pumpkin spice cookies (from the US!).

“Wait a minute, these aren’t pumpkins!” -Ducky “Nope, but they are gourds.” -Pembleton “What’s a gourd?” -Ducky

*Sorry we haven’t been blogging like we would like. We enjoy Ducky Adventures so much! But this past year has been very difficult (with cancer on both sides of the family and the passing of Laura’s mom). While we’ve been dealing with a lot, it’s time to start up the Ducky blog again.Thanks to everyone for being patient and spread the word- Ducky and the gang are back!

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Recently we had a new addition to our human family, a new niece/cousin, Miss Savannah Marie. Ducky and the gang were so excited to see pictures of the new baby. This got them thinking- Where they ever babies? This question made the humans laugh. After they were done laughing, they got out their photo album and showed them several baby pictures of Ducky and Pembleton when they were just lil’ guys. This was their favorite photo:

That evening, the dinosaurs held a special celebration for Ducky and the gang. A feast was prepared with lots of desserts. A band played the jugs all night, while everyone danced and played games. Then when night fell, the dinosaurs, along with Ted and Blizzards help make fire dance in the sky with paper lanterns. They watched the lanterns float in higher and higher, late into the night.

In the morning, Ducky and the gang didn’t want to leave Xanadu, they had to get back home. Abigail and her father were safe, and Professor Plumbottom was captured. This adventure had come to an end, but they knew in their hearts there would be more adventures to come.

The gang got off at the last stop – a small Tibetan monastery on a high mountain peak. Pembleton knew some of the animals there and figured it was a good place to start investigating. But as the train pulled away, reality set in, and amidst all the snow and ice, Ducky had a meltdown.

“I’M SO C-C-COLD!” Ducky blubbered.

“Don’t worry Ducky, we will get you thawed out once we get inside,” Pembleton replied as he offered Ducky the last cookie.

“I hope your friends have some warm clothes for us, Ted and I can’t handle this cold weather as well as you and Blizzard!” Ducky said between sniffles.

“Let’s get inside. Harry the snow hare is waiting for us. He should have some gear for us.” Pembleton said, as they headed toward the monastery.

“So what’s the plan?” Ducky asked. “Are we just going to fly in to the Himalayas, do the rescue and be back by snack time? Ted said they are making cookies with Mrs. Cottontail.”

“No, Ducky. Unfortunately we won’t be making it back for snack time. There is no suitable landing strip in the Himalayas, so we will be landing about 50 miles south of the mountains. From there, we can take a train.”

“A train? I love trains. Will there be a snack car?” Ducky said all excited.

“I just hope we make it in time,” Pembleton hesitated, “There is only one train per week and it leaves this afternoon.”

***

5 minutes before departure…

“I got the tickets,” Pembleton said nervously. “But I don’t know which track. We need to hurry, but all the signs are in an animal language I don’t know.”

“Hey, Pembleton? Is that, who I think it is?” Ducky asked.

“Who? Where?” Pembleton asked. “EDGAR! What are you doing here?”

Edgar the Elephant and member of the Pooh Bear Society, replied, “I’m visiting my family. They run the local trains, and I’m helping out.”

“Great! We are on an adventure and our train is about to leave any minute. Can you direct us to the right train?” Ducky asked.

“You are in luck. It’s right behind you and I’m about to give it the go ahead. Hurry up and find your seats. And good luck on your adventure.” Edgar said.

“Thank you!” Ducky said, as he dragged his luggage in to the train car. “Boy does our luggage feel oddly heavy.”

To be continued…

“You got our tickets and I got our luggage. Now which train do we take?”

Now that Thanksgiving is behind us, it is Ducky and the Gang’s favorite time of year! One of their favorite Christmas traditions is caroling, so today the gang decided to stroll around the park singing cheery songs to celebrate the season.

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One thing Ducky and the gang have learned since being in Montreal is that it is COLD! While Ted, Blizzard, and Pembleton are enjoying the colder weather, Ducky is having a hard time staying warm. At first he tried a nice mug of hot cocoa, but that doesn’t last very long. Then he tried a blankie, but that only gets in the way when playing with his toys. So Pembleton had the idea of getting some cool new PJs from Mr. Moose’ Canadian Comfort store that would keep them warm, but also stylish. Ducky chose the dino pattern, while Pembleton went with the space pattern. Ted and Blizzard’s fur kept them warm enough, and decided PJs would make them too warm.

While their new PJs keep them nice and warm, they still enjoy a nice cup of hot cocoa and a blankie while cuddling up on the couch. Even Ted and Blizzard.

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(*Dear readers, sorry we have not been posting regularly. We have had lots of family visiting and have been traveling a lot. we hope to be posting more regularly soon.)

Halloween is tomorrow and Ducky and the Gang are not sure what their costume should be. There are so many great options: Super Heroes, Monsters, Army men, Ninjas, Fruit?!?! The list is endless. Here are some Halloween pictures from the past. Hopefully they decide soon! Halloween is tomorrow!

Jack 2011

“This is going to be TOTALLY WICKED!”

“Live Long and Eat Cookies”

“What do you think you are wearing?”

“May the Force Be with You!”

The Gang with Boo

Pembleton wants to remind everyone to be extra safe on Halloween.

Here is a great website to help families stay safe and healthy on Halloween!

Ducky and the gang have been apart of our family for years, but it wasn’t until last year that we finally shared them with the world! On September 18th, 2012 we posted our first blog post on Ducky Adventures (Hello World). Since then, it has been a fun and wild ride.

Ducky and friends have been doing quite a bit of traveling lately. Their lastest adventure was Italia! They visited Florence, Pisa, Cinque Terra, and ROMA! While in Rome, Ducky got into some trouble at the Vatican after he made a minor improvement to some of their artwork.

Recently Ducky and the gang went to Paris for a Lego conference. One evening, Ducky went on a stroll through the Parisian streets, looking for some snacks. He found some delicious cookies and a nice gelato stand near a park.

In the park, Ducky saw a strange fellow duck, who appeared to be trapped in an invisible box. When Ducky went over to help, the strange duck burst out of the invisible box and stanched Ducky’s cookie and his ice cream!

Ducky shouted, “Who are you and why did you take my snacks?”

But the strange duck’s only reply was a silent laugh and then a bite out of the cookie.

Ducky was sad, and confused. Why would someone be so mean? Then Ducky went back to the gelato stand and got another scoop of ice cream. This time, he would be more careful.

They slowly entered the room, not knowing what to expect. On the ceiling there was an colorful mosaic depicting a galaxy and hundreds of stars. It was so beautiful, they almost forgot why they were there. At the top of the ceiling there was an oculus letting in a beam of light, shining down onto a pedestal in the center of the room.

“What is this? A BOOK! We came all this way for a stinking BOOK!?!” Ducky shouted as he looked at the pedestal.

“Wait a second! Ducky. Books can be very valuable treasures. I need to examine it.” Multilingual Mole said as he and Pembleton took a closer look.

“What are all those pots for Ducky?” Ted asked.

“Maybe those are filled with treasure.” Blizzard added.

“Good thinking.” Ducky said as he waddled over and opened one of the lids. “Oh My Goodness! GOLD! The tasty kind.” Ducky dipped his wing into the pot of honey, just for a taste. “Oh, this is the good stuff.”

“This book, isn’t just any book.” Multilingual Mole explained. “It is Bearistotle’s mother’s famous recipe book.” Ted and Blizzard ‘Oooed’ and ‘Aaaawed’ as Multilingual Mole named delicious recipe, after recipe. He then continued, “She made the best baklava in all the land, but her recipes were believed to have been lost in the great fires of Alexandria.” At this point, Multilingual Mole was giddy with excitement, as was Pembleton and the little guys. “This find is not only important for history and prosperity, but also the good of animal kinds tummies.”

As Multilingual Mole and Pembleton thumbed through other famous and delicious recipes Ducky, who had finally gotten unstuck from the honey pot came over and asked, “So what’s this your looking at!” Everyone turned to Ducky and gave him the stink eye.

“Weren’t you listening?” Pembleton asked.

“Actually, it’s a little hard to hear. I have honey in my ears.” Ducky replied.

Once they had examined the treasure. They made preparations to return to the nearest city. There they reported the cat pirates to the authorities and told them their location. Then Multilingual Mole and Pembleton held a press conference, announcing they had uncovered the Mystery of the Desert Sands. Amanda Panda and Penelope Penguin, donated their pendents to a local museum and in appreciation of their gift, the museum had two replicas made for the girls. Cornelius questioned the female camel that had been working with the cat pirates and was relieved to find out she had no idea what they were up to. Before handing the recipe book over to the museum for safe keeping, Ducky and the gang made a batch of Mama Bearistotle’s baklava! It was so good, they had to make another.

Before handing over the pendants, Amanda Panda and Penelope Penguin slid the two charms together. The halves formed the key Multilingual Mole would need to open the massive, ancient doors that stood before them.

Multilingual Mole translated the encryption on the pendent, “MORE THAN THIS KEY IS NEEDED TO UNLOCK THE MYSTERY OF THE DESERT SANDS. AS THE HALVES OF THIS PENDANT COME TOGETHER TO FORM A MESSAGE, SO TOO THE SECRETS OF BEARISTOTLE’S CHAMBER WILL ONLY BE REVEALED BY WORKING TOGETHER.”

“Cool! These are the best friendship pendants ever!”

“What does that mean? Haven’t we done enough teamwork for one adventure?” Ducky asked.

“I think it means that it will take all of us to unlock the mystery and the door.” Pembleton said.

“But how? I don’t even see a keyhole”, Amanda said, as she looked back and forth between the pendent and door.

“I think we might be too little”, said Ted sadly.

“Yeah, look how big those doors are, and how little we are”, Blizzard agreed.

“I got it!” Pembleton shouted. “How about we become big!”

“What does that mean? Are you drinking enough water? I think you might be loosing it!” Ducky replied.

“No, I’m not losing it! Each of us may be little, but together we can do big things! Haven’t you learned anything from our previous adventures?” Pembleton explained, “We need to climb on top of each other so we can see higher up! Maybe with Cornelius’ help, we can find the lock.”

They all climbed onto Cornelius’ back to get a better view. They searched for anything that might match the shape of the pendent. After searching for several minutes, Penelope tugged on Pembleton’s wing and then whispered, “Do you think that could be it? Up there?” she asked.

“Yeah! I think you found it!” Pembleton shouted with joy. He startled shy Penelope, and caught her before she fell off the hump. Both of them blushed a little, but then they got back to work.

Ducky, Ted, Pembelton, and Blizzard quickly formed an animal ladder on top of Cornelius and passed the pendent up the chain. Once Ted, at the top, received the pendent, Amanda told them, “Scoot to the right. No the other rights you nimrods! No, now that is too far! STOP! Right there Ted!” Then Ted slid the pendant into the cave wall and pushed it into place. There was a loud click, but then nothing happen.

They waited for about 10 seconds before they heard the rumble of stone doors sliding open. “It worked! It worked!” Multilingual Mole shouted as he did the happy dance. “Now lets see this treasure.”

Stay tuned for the GRAND FINALE!

“Even though each of us might be little, together we can do BIG things!” -Pembleton

After they were able to open the secret passageway, Ducky and the gang entered the dark tunnel, along with Cornelius. It was so dark, they could barely see anything. Before heading too far in, Pembelton took the old blanket and wrapped it around the stick to make a torch. He asked Ducky to hold the torch, while he lit the torch using his flint key chain, he always carries just in case of emergencies like this.

The tunnel twisted and turned downward, deep beneath the desert sands. They nervously followed the path. In the distance they could hear Amanda Panda, giving Captain One Mitten an ear full about how horrible their conditions were.

“You call this a falafel! I wouldn’t feed this to a rat!” she shouted.

“We must be getting close.” Ducky whispered to Cornelius, who whispered to Ted, who whispered to Blizzard, who then whispered to Pembleton. “What? Wet mustard boogied in the closet?” Pembleton whispered back to Blizzard. “What does that mean?”

“I don’t know. Just keep going.” Blizzard said as he hopped up on Pembleton’s back. He was getting tired.

They were almost at the end of the tunnel, when Pembleton stopped them. “Okay. We need to come up with a plan.”

“What do you mean? We just go in there and stop the bad guys!” Ducky said, walking towards the cave. “Why do you have to…”

Before Pembleton could stop him or Ducky could finish his statement, the floor opened beneath him. Ducky began to plummet towards a pit of sharp spikes. Luckily, Cornelius had fast reflexes and a long neck and was able to catch Ducky by the webbed toes before any harm was done. But unfortunately Captain One Mitten had hear Ducky’s scream and commotion caused by the booby trap.

By the time Ducky was back on solid ground, Captain One Mitten and Egor, had the gang surrounded.

They looked everywhere for the trigger mechanism that must open the secret passage, but they couldn’t find it anywhere. Eventually Ted and Blizzard got tired and started to play in the sand. Cornelius decided to take another nap, but Ducky and Pembleton kept searching until the Sun started to go down.

Suddenly, Cornelius’ ears perked up and he sniffed the air. Then he said in a low deep voice, “Everyone hide, someone is coming!”

Ducky, Pembleton, and Cornelius hid behind a giant obelisk, while Ted and Blizzard hid behind a sand dune. They waited for what seemed like forever before anyone but Cornelius could hear someone coming. Then they saw Captain One Mittin’s first mate, Egor, leading a camel with a large sack through the desert. When the camel, wearing a large purple bow, got closer they could see that the sack actually contained a prisoner.

First Ducky whispered, “It’s the cat pirates, again!”

Then Pembleton whispered, “That’s Multilingual Mole tied to the camel’s back! We need to rescue him.”

Cornelius tilted his head to get a better look at the female camel. Losing his mind with infatuation, he was about to whistle, when Pembleton managed to clasp his wing over Cornelius’ lips.

“Get a hold of yourself”, Pembleton whispered harshly.

“Sorry”, sighed Cornelius quietly.

Then they watched as Egor walked directly toward the wall where they had seen the foot prints leading into the wall. Egor hopped on top of the female camel’s back and used a gnarled staff to press a tiny button high up on the wall. The wall itself began to slide away revealing a long dark tunnel. When Egor was out of sight the wall slid back into place.

Pembleton examined the button that Egor had pressed to open the secret entrance. It was too high to reach even on top of Cornelius’ back. “How are we going to reach that button?” asked Pembleton.

“Don’t you remember. I packed a long stick”, said Ducky. “We can stand on Cornelius back and use the stick to reach the button.”

“Wow! Good thinking Ducky”, agreed Ted and Blizzard.

“See! I packed some useful stuff”, said Ducky.

Pembleton reluctantly climbed on top of Cornelius and used Ducky’s stick to press the button. The secret door slid open and they entered the long dark tunnel.

“There is no one here! What do we do now?” asked Ducky. “Maybe we took a wrong turn.”

“I don’t think so. I double checked the map, plus there are too many ruins here to be a coincidence”, said Pembleton. “Everyone take a look around. Maybe we will find a clue.”

Ducky, Ted, Pembleton, and Blizzard hopped off Cornelius and began to explore. Cornelius decided to take a nap. Ducky looked high and low – but mainly low – as he was unable to climb most of the ruins. Pembleton carefully climbed to the top of a pillar to survey the area, but he didn’t see anything except more ruins. When they met back near Cornelius, Ted and Blizzard reported they didn’t find anyone but they found two pretty ribbons. They thought they might make nice gifts for Amanda Panda and Penelope Penguin when they got back home.

“You are right, Ducky”, Pembleton added, “Those look exactly like ribbons that Amanda Panda and Penelope Penguin wear all the time. But what are their ribbons doing all the way out here in the desert?”

“No one messes with my friends and gets away with it”, Ducky said sternly. “Whoever is responsible for this mess is in big trouble!”

As Duck and Pembleton untied the ribbons, Blizzard called over to them. “Hey, I found some paw prints over here, and they lead directly into this stone wall. There must be a secret passage in the wall.”

“Good eye Blizzard!” Pembleton said, as they began searching for the trigger that opened the passageway.

“What does this mean?” Ducky asked. He had never heard of Bearistotle and he definitely didn’t know how knowledge made you thirsty! Hungry, maybe. But thirsty?

“Give me a second.” Pembleton said scratching his head.

“I know” Blizzard said. “Me too!” shouted Ted.

“What does it mean?” Pembleton and Ducky asked at the same time.

Blizzard explained, “Bearistotle was a very wise philosopher, scientist, honeyologist… you name it, he knew about it. Anyways, there is a library dedicated to him that isn’t far from here.”

“There is a statue out front and everything.” Ted added, “We learned all of this in Ms. Cottontail’s class. Weren’t you paying attention Pembleton?” He already knew Ducky wasn’t.

“Your right!” Pembleton shouted, “Let’s head over there right now. I bet that is the starting point on the map.”

***

When they made it over to the library, they marveled at the statue of Bearistotle drinking from the fountain of knowledge, or should we say honey.

“Wow, it’s beautiful.” Ducky said. It was hard for him not to dip his wings in to the fountain. Unfortunately, it was not actual honey, but gold plated statue. He was sad, but Pembleton got them back on task.

“I think this ancient writing must mean something. It has to be our next clue.” Pembleton said as he sent another message to Multilingual Mole.

“Your the second person this week to ask me about this writing!” replied Multilingual Mole. “The text says: THIS QUEST IS NOT FOR THE FAINT AT HEART. THIS IS THE BEGINNING THAT MANY HAVE STARTED, YET FEW CAN COMPLETE. THE TREASURE IS ONLY FOR THOSE WHO CAN UNLOCK THE TRUE MYSTERY OF THE DESERT SANDS.” Then a second text came from Multilingual Mole, “What is going on Pembleton? What is this quest?”

Once Ducky and Pembleton made sure the poor monkey was being taken care of, they returned to their investigation of the map.

“Where is this map leading us?” Pembleton asked.

“Obviously to the giant red ‘X’!” Ducky answered.

“But where do we start?” Pembleton asked.

“I don’t know. I don’t have all the answers! Wait, why does this map feel crusty?”

“Wait, just one minute.” Pembleton said. Pembleton sniffed the map and his eyes grew big. Ducky knew he was on to something. His super sniffer was never wrong. Pembleton walked over to the table and grabbed a lemon. Now Ducky was just confused. Why did he need a lemon? Then Pembleton squirted the lemon juice over the crusty area and held it over a candle. Soon a secret message appeared in light brown letter.

“How did you know how to do that?” Ducky asked.

“It’s simple science, you see…” Ducky quickly cut Pembton off.

“You can tell us later. Do you know what this ancient scribble means?” Ducky asked.

“No, but I know someone who does.” Pembleton said. He quickly grabbed his emergency phone and took a picture. “Multilingual Mole will know. He is a professor of ancient texts.” Shortly after sending, Pembleton received a text message back with the translation: TO UNCOVER THE MYSTERY OF THE DESERT SANDS, ONE MUST THIRST FOR KNOWLEDGE, AS BEARISTOTLE ONCE DID.

Easter is one of the gang’s favorite holidays. They get to dress up in their monkey suits, eat lots of candy, and search for Easter eggs! Sometimes the Easter Egg Hunt can get pretty competitive. This year was no different.

The humans took the gang to a nearby park for their Easter Egg Hunt. Blizzard and Ted decided to team up this year and boy were they glad they did. They found an egg under some leaves that was almost as big as they were! Pembleton and Ducky both spied a beautiful egg near a boulder, but Ducky was much closer and was able to grab it first. Pembleton wasn’t about to give up. He searched and he searched, and he found a nice big egg at the base of a tree.

Blizzard and Ted worked together to carefully roll their egg over to Ducky’s basket. But when Ducky picked up their egg, he accidentally dropped it and the egg crashed on to the ground and broke open. All three of them were upset, until they saw that inside their egg was filled with delicious candies!

Yesterday morning Ducky went on a walk. As he walked by the local Jewish community center, he saw a group of humans standing around a bonfire. He was curious so he waddled over to see what was going on. As he peeked through the crowd, he was shocked by what he saw! They were burning bread and crackers! “WHY?” Ducky thought. Then Ducky noticed a wise old owl near by. He walked over and asked what was going on.

The owl replied “It’s the burning of the Chametz.”

“What is that?” Ducky asked even more confused.

“During Pesach, or Passover as you know it, the Jewish people burn anything leaven and do not eat bread or other leaven foods for a whole week in remembrance of their escape from Egypt.” said the owl.

“What? No bread? No pita? Not cake? No cookies? No nothing?” Ducky asked. “When does this start?”

“Tonight.”

Before the owl could say “Chag Sameach (Happy Holiday)”, Ducky ran past the bonfire, grabbed a bag of pita and headed home. He had some eating to do before Pesach started!

“Oh no! What are we going to do now?” Ducky cried as he shook the bamboo bars of the cage. “We need to get home before dinner time!”

“Calm down Ducky,” said Ted. “Blizzard and I know what to do.”

Ted and Blizzard were small enough to slip through the bars. They walked over to a nearby palm where a pile of pirate swords laid. Together they dragged one over to Pembleton, who used the sword to break free from the cage.

“Quick, we need to get out of here,” Pembleton said. “But how will we escape when our boat is stuck?”

“Don’t worry, I got a plan!” Ducky said. As they reached the beach Ducky put his wings in his beak and whistled as loud as he could. Within minutes, the pod of dolphins from earlier in the day appeared. They hopped on to their backs and headed back to safety just in time.

When they looked back, Captain One Mitten was on the beach waving his sword. “Arrr… No body steals the treasure of Captain One Mitten!”

As soon as they made it back to port, they notified the authorities about the pirates. Soon after the police arrested the cat pirates and were able to give back the treasures stolen from a local museum, including the treasure the gang escaped with. The police were also able to tow the USS DtPb back to port.

Once Ducky and the gang got back home they were ready for a snack and a nap. They had had enough adventure for one day.